Sacramento City Council Taking Final Vote Tonight On Downtown Arena

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento’s city council is expected to vote Tuesday night on a $477 million downtown arena for the Kings, capping off a lengthy struggle to keep the NBA franchise and build it a new home.

The outcome is uncertain, although a majority of the nine-member council, including Mayor Kevin Johnson, has consistently voted to support various aspects of the arena planning process.

The team scheduled an afternoon rally outside City Hall to show support for the project. The Kings have played in Sacramento since 1985 and currently play in the 26-year-old Sleep Train Arena, in the city’s north end.

“Tuesday is a historic day for our team and for our region,” Kings President Chris Granger said in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s vote. “We have worked tirelessly to create the best-in-class project that will serve as a regional hub for innovation, community gathering and economic development.”

The plan before the City Council provides details on financing and construction of the new sports and entertainment complex, which would replace an aging shopping mall a few blocks from the state Capitol.

The arena plans call for a 35-year lease agreement between the city and the Kings. The city would be responsible for a $223 million subsidy, much of it financed through a bond backed by the city’s parking revenue. The city would pay an estimated $21.9 million a year in debt service that would be paid through lease payments from the Kings and a projected increase in parking revenue.

The city also is transferring $32 million worth of land and allowing the team to operate six digital billboards.

In return, the Kings would replace the shopping center and build a crown-like sports facility at the western gateway to the city near the Sacramento River. According to the team, the 17,500-seat arena will be slightly larger than the Kings’ current home and will feature a see-through entrance and a silver exterior with diamond-shaped windows. A key element includes four-story-high windows that will fold upward to create an indoor-outdoor amphitheater.

The Kings are expected to contribute $254 million, which includes plans to develop the adjacent property with a hotel, office tower and shopping.

If the council approves the deal, the Kings are scheduled to break ground this summer and open the arena in October 2016, in time for the 2016-17 season.

The NBA had told the city that it must open the arena by 2017 or risk losing the Kings. Former Kings owners George, Joe and Gavin Maloof considered moving the team to Las Vegas, Anaheim and Virginia Beach, Virginia, until announcing an agreement that called for investor Chris Hansen to buy the team and move it to Seattle.

Johnson led the city in a fight to keep the Kings and got the City Council to approve a plan for a new arena. The Maloofs then sold the Kings to a group led by TIBCO Software Chairman Vivek Ranadive.

Critics unsuccessfully tried to block the city’s subsidy with a petition drive that failed to qualify for the ballot. Some council members have said Sacramento is taking a financial gamble while inflating the project’s economic impact to the city.